Happy Atheist forum

Listening to the news sounds like Turkey is headed deeper into dictatorship.

If he is successful in his latest moves the office of Prime Minister will disappear - leaving President Erdoğan in supreme power. Possibly until 2029 if he wins the next election. There are many Turks very unhappy about this, some having already left the country.

This makes it even less likely for Europe to want Turkey as a member but, last year, I seem to remember that progress in those talks would be a condition of Turkey's cooperation over Syrian refugees. And, if Assad wins, given his history of exacting retribution, that problem may spike again.

My wife is from there, and it is indeed really bad. Her parents have talked about moving to the US, but mostly as an emergency if things become intolerable. But they sent my sister-in-law to school in NY because they don't think she should stay either. My mother-in-law was staying with us when Trump was elected, and her cynical response was "Well, now you know what we've been going through." I don't think Europe was ever serious about EU membership, even last year, and Erdoğan mostly used the talks as an excuse to dismantle the secular army that opposed him. I don't see things changing for the better anytime soon, the main opposition party is old and inept. There was a glimmer of hope when his party lost elections a couple of years ago, but then he never formed a government and restarted a war with the Kurds to inflame everyone's nationalist tendencies, and it worked, snap elections brought them back to power. People are so gullible.

Thinking more on it the conditions Erdoğan wanted may have related to trade and allowing more Turks to emmigrate to Europe. Looks like they might not wait for changes in legislation.

I hope your wife's parents remain safe, Firebird, but will Turkey still be a country worth living in? It is a country of so much potential in so many ways, yet it is also another that seems to be sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

Title: Re: Dictatorship in Turkey?
Post by: No one on January 09, 2017, 08:08:10 PM

Let's see if there are any people who aren't willing to gobble up what said dictators are stuffing down peoples throats.

Let's see if there are any people who aren't willing to gobble up what said dictators are stuffing down peoples throats.

The last lot that tried that are all awaiting arrest or actually in prison, in their thousands! Erdoğan has a strong popular base, like Trump. There are always millions who accept the lies, the propaganda from media sources becoming less and less independant.

I hope your wife's parents remain safe, Firebird, but will Turkey still be a country worth living in? It is a country of so much potential in so many ways, yet it is also another that seems to be sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

My in-laws are semi-retired. Moving halfway around the world at their age and out of their element would be really hard. Plus there's this feeling of abandoning their country. If they leave, who's left? I sympathize with that. The fact that they're even considering it is stunning to me.

Unfortunately, it does look as if the least shitty of shit countries will not get to keep that title for long... For many of the same reason as they were demoted to a shit country in the first place in the footnotes of The Gray Tome. :(

Looks like Erdoğan is exporting his tactics to the US, though it could be said some of Trump's supporters need no lessons.

As Erdoğan arrived at the Turkish embassy, in his visit, a small demo started in support of a political prisoner. It then seems that one of Edoğan's security team had a word with Edoğan's supporters. Those supporters, and the security man, then attacked the demonstrators, knocking them down and kicking them.

An organisation that analysises such incidents from video evidence said, on BBC World Service, that Erdoğan spoke to the security man first and watched him initiate the violence before getting out of the car to enter the embassy.

Looks like the West can wave goodbye to Turkey then. How their relationship with Russia develops will be . . . interesting. At first sight they do not have much in common but I would guess Russia would really like Turkey to leave NATO and never join the EU. They will be another buffer state.